Abstract
Thousands of nanomaterials (NMs)-containing products are currently under development or incorporated in the consumer market, despite our very limited understanding of their genotoxic potential. Taking into account that the toxicity and genotoxicity of NMs strongly depend on their physicochemical characteristics, many variables must be considered in the safety evaluation of each given NM. In this scenario, the challenge is to establish high-throughput methodologies able to generate rapid and robust genotoxicity data that can be used to critically assess and/or predict the biological effects associated with those NMs being under development or already present in the market. In this study, we have evaluated the advantages of using a flow cytometry-based approach testing micronucleus (MNs) induction (FCMN assay). In the frame of the EU NANoREG project, we have tested six different NMs—namely NM100 and NM101 (TiO2NPs), NM110 (ZnONPs), NM212 (CeO2NPs), NM300K (AgNPs) and NM401 (multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)). The obtained results confirm the ability of AgNPs and MWCNTs to induce MN in the human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B cell line, whereas the other tested NMs retrieved non-significant increases in the MN frequency. Based on the alignment of the results with the data reported in the literature and the performance of the FCMN assay, we strongly recommend this assay as a reference method to systematically evaluate the potential genotoxicity of NMs.
Highlights
Thousands of products containing nanomaterials (NMs) have been settled in the European industry and in regular consumer products over the last years, due to the new and useful properties of materials at the nanometric scale [1]
It is important to have strict control of the dispersion procedure when NMs are administered to cultured cells [29]
They represent the average diaNmaneotmeartewriailtsh20t1h9e, 9e, x16c7e7ption of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) NM401, where we indicate the average length
Summary
Thousands of products containing nanomaterials (NMs) have been settled in the European industry and in regular consumer products over the last years, due to the new and useful properties of materials at the nanometric scale [1]. We are facing a complex scenario where a huge amount of NMs needs to be tested under multiple modulatory variables For this reason, high-throughput methods are required to generate rapid and robust data that can be used to assess and/or predict the potentially harmful effects of NMs in biological systems, as postulated by different authors [6,7,8]. It has been largely demonstrated that the use of different dispersion protocols can lead to variability in their suspensions and, to different physicochemical properties [9,10,11] For this reason, we aimed to follow a protocol generated under the frame of the EU project NanoGenotox, a well-standardized protocol tested and already harmonized among laboratories. We recently proposed to freeze the NMs immediately after dispersion, as an alternative to working with freshly dispersed samples, since their physicochemical and biological characteristics were unaltered after the freezing procedure [5]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
